Thursday, May 03, 2012

Congrats to the Motels, whose shelved 1981 LP, "Apocalypso," just won the "best reissue" prize at the 11th Annual Independent Music Awards. The album is a revelation -- rawer and more intense than when it was re-recorded as the hit "All Four One" in 1982 -- and was the inspiration for my Bruised Fruit CDs music-trading site, as I culled my rare music into collections (b-sides, bonus tracks, soundtrack contributions, demos) in hopes of finding someone who had the original third Motels album and would be willing to swap. (It never materialized.) Today, Bruised Fruit CDs is mostly dormant. Nearly everything I ever hoped would be released digitally has come out. But I still remain on the lookout for Clare Grogran's "Trash Mad," The Boss' "Electric Nebraska," the Waitresses' "Bruiseology" and Jimmy Destri's "Heart on a Wall." I hear from my pal Tracie Young that her shelved sophomore LP will be released by Cherry Pop in the coming year, at which point I can die happy, buried in a pair of parachute pants and a Chess King zigzag top.